Stock Car Racing Author Brian Donovan Speaks at ASU April 21

Award-winning journalist Brian Donovan, author of Hard Driving, The Wendell Scott Story: The American Odyssey of NASCAR’s First Black Driver, will speak for free at ASU on Tuesday, April 21.

Award-winning journalist Brian Donovan, author of Hard Driving, The Wendell Scott Story: The American Odyssey of NASCAR’s First Black Driver, will speak at ASU on Tuesday, April 21. The program, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Room 114 of Belk Library and Information Commons, is free and the public is welcome.

Following the presentation, Donovan will talk informally with audience members. Copies of Hard Driving will be available for purchase for those who would like a personally autographed copy.

For more information contact Suzanne Wise at 828-262-2798 or wisems@appstate.edu.

Donovan, an investigative journalist and amateur racing driver, has won honors in both pursuits, including two Pulitzer Prizes and an Eastern Motor Racing Association championship.

Hard Driving tells the story of Wendell Scott, NASCAR’s Jackie Robinson. Scott is the only African-American driver ever to win a race in NASCAR’s top racing division and the first voted into the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame. He began competing in stock car racing in 1949, winning the Virginia State Sportsman Championship in 1959. In 1961, he moved to NASCAR’s top series.

Scott battled overt racism from race officials, fellow drivers and fans throughout his career. Chronically under funded, he still managed to finish in the top 10 in 147 of the 495 Grand National—now Sprint Cup—races he entered. His sole victory came in 1963 at Jacksonville Speedway in Florida.

When Buck Baker was declared the winner, Scott filed a protest. It was discovered that a scorer had not credited him with two of the laps he completed. He was finally named the victor several hours after the race ended. His career was the subject of the 1977 movie “Greased Lightning” starring Richard Pryor. Scott died in 1990.

Hard Driving has won wide acclaim. The Detroit Free Press called it “a book that is both a history and a sports classic.” Writer Rob Edelstein, author of Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner, said, “Brian Donovan has given us a beautifully insightful look at Wendell Scott–a vital NASCAR pioneer–that’s exceedingly well-written, and researched with the kind of zeal and expertise necessary for a tale that covers so rocky a road. Talk about a necessary sports biography. ‘Hard Driving’ is unquestionably a winner.”

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